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Nice article on Troy Murphy @ RealGM

Saying that the Indiana Pacers have been inconsistent this season would be an understatement. In fact, their roller coaster ride of a campaign has been well-documented -– just check the archive to the left of this piece.

Prior to his knee and foot injuries, Danny Granger was the lone picture of stability in Indiana. But in recent weeks, another member of the team has stepped up as the most reliable force on the court.

Troy Murphy, the "overpaid" forward that the Pacers acquired from the Warriors a little more than two years ago, is having the best season of his eight-year career.

He's averaging a double-double (13.8 points and 11.8 rebounds) for the fourth time in his career, and ranks third in the NBA in that category.

Murphy has 37 double-doubles in his 57 games this season, behind only New York's David Lee (48) and Orlando's Dwight Howard (47). Howard started for the Eastern Conference All-Star team last month, while Lee's name was mentioned by many as a reserve candidate.

Murphy's name was barely whispered.

It's not hard to imagine why Murphy has avoided the spotlight despite a stellar year. The Pacers were 26-36 after an upset win over the Nuggets on Sunday night and although they stand just three games out of eighth place, injuries to Mike Dunleavy (knee; done for the season) and Granger have made a playoff run highly unlikely.

Murphy, who attended nearby Notre Dame, also ranks fourth in the NBA in rebounds per game, behind Howard, Marcus Camby and Lee. His numbers in the month of February, were hard to ignore -- 18.5 points and 12.8 boards, while shooting 51.3% from the field and 45.5% from three-point land.

Lee and Howard have been praised for recording their double-doubles through three quarters, or even the first half, but Murphy has had his fair shares of "halfies" as well. On Sunday night, he reached the milestone well before halftime against Denver.

What's even more impressive than his standing among the NBA's leaders in double-doubles is the talent below him on the list.

He also has a Reina Value of +49%, which essentially means that he deserves to earn more than what the Pacers are paying him this season ($10M+), which happens to be an amount that many people consider to be too high. Fifty-five players are paid more in the NBA right now, but only fourteen have been more productive according to FIC totals.

In addition to mentioning his salary, Murphy's critics often point to the forward's penchant for battling teammates for rebounds. Here's the thing: wouldn't you rather have a player battle for every rebound than concede to a teammate that might not end up grabbing the miss?

You don't think Lee, Howard and Camby often jump for the same rebound as their teammates in New York, Orlando and Los Angeles, respectively?

Murphy is better on the defensive glass than on the offensive end, due in part to his ability to step out of the paint to knock down a three, but he's still among the best in the league in terms of rebounding percentage.

According to Basketball-Reference.com, Murphy grabs 19.4% of the rebounds available when he's on the floor. That's fourth to Howard, Camby and Andris Biedrins.

Murphy has also lightened up Indiana's locker room, perhaps with stronger personalities elsewhere this season.

He's contributed a blog to Pacers.com, admitted his desire to become a wedding planner, sported a thin eighties mustache, and even maintains his own Facebook page.

Even better than that?

He's provided the Pacers with consistency, something they have consistently lacked this season.

Andrew Perna is Deputy Editor of RealGM.com and co-host of RealGM's Radio Show. Please feel free to contact him with comments or questions via e-mail: Andrew.Perna@RealGM.com

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I am happy to see Troy getting his due this season . He has been our most consistant player , and imho is a KEY cog in the future of this Pacers team ..
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Last edited by Kemo; 03-05-2009 at 08:21 PM.

"They want to be famous. We want to be champions. They want to be rappers and backup dancers. We want to play football." - T.J. Ward, Denver Broncos

Re: Nice article on Troy Murphy @ RealGM

Why? Everyone understands Troy is consistent. Some just value what he's consistent in and what he is consistent in not being more than others.

Listing him with all-stars statistically. An article saying he is underpaid contradicts the hate he has received from this board. Not to mention it takes a direct shot at the fighting for rebounds crews mindset.

Re: Nice article on Troy Murphy @ RealGM

wouldn't you rather have a player battle for every rebound than concede to a teammate that might not end up grabbing the miss?

No.

Not when there is clearly no one for miles or when he's actually physically knocking them around pretty good.

But that's not the point anyway, the point is that you must take his rebound totals with a grain of salt, that's all. He's NOT a better rebounder than Duncan, Jefferson or Camby. He's not that close to David Lee either, based on seeing them head to head when a tough rebound was needed.

His rebounds are like steroid era HRs. Sure Bonds and McGwire were going to hit some out, just not that many.

BTW, let's see his stats for his Pacers duration and compare that to his pay. Still "underpaid". Whoops.

Making good statistically on a high-pace, 3pt happy team with a big losing record is not exactly going to get teams beating down the door to trade for him. Find me a person that trades any of those players listed next to him for him. I don't think you could pry Okafur or Jamison away for Troy right now, let alone the face smack you'd get for mentioning Duncan's name to the Spurs.

Re: Nice article on Troy Murphy @ RealGM

Not when there is clearly no one for miles or when he's actually physically knocking them around pretty good.

But that's not the point anyway, the point is that you must take his rebound totals with a grain of salt, that's all. He's NOT a better rebounder than Duncan, Jefferson or Camby. He's not that close to David Lee either, based on seeing them head to head when a tough rebound was needed.

His rebounds are like steroid era HRs. Sure Bonds and McGwire were going to hit some out, just not that many.

BTW, let's see his stats for his Pacers duration and compare that to his pay. Still "underpaid". Whoops.

Making good statistically on a high-pace, 3pt happy team with a big losing record is not exactly going to get teams beating down the door to trade for him. Find me a person that trades any of those players listed next to him for him. I don't think you could pry Okafur or Jamison away for Troy right now, let alone the face smack you'd get for mentioning Duncan's name to the Spurs.

You don't think Lee, Howard and Camby often jump for the same rebound as their teammates in New York, Orlando and Los Angeles, respectively?

Re: Nice article on Troy Murphy @ RealGM

Not when there is clearly no one for miles or when he's actually physically knocking them around pretty good.

But that's not the point anyway, the point is that you must take his rebound totals with a grain of salt, that's all. He's NOT a better rebounder than Duncan, Jefferson or Camby. He's not that close to David Lee either, based on seeing them head to head when a tough rebound was needed.

His rebounds are like steroid era HRs. Sure Bonds and McGwire were going to hit some out, just not that many.

BTW, let's see his stats for his Pacers duration and compare that to his pay. Still "underpaid". Whoops.

Making good statistically on a high-pace, 3pt happy team with a big losing record is not exactly going to get teams beating down the door to trade for him. Find me a person that trades any of those players listed next to him for him. I don't think you could pry Okafur or Jamison away for Troy right now, let alone the face smack you'd get for mentioning Duncan's name to the Spurs.

Re: Nice article on Troy Murphy @ RealGM

I don't understand the argument that "he goes for every rebound, even if his teammates are nearby". Duh! He's a power forward, and he's taught to go after the damn ball! If he didn't, you all would say "he's not aggressive enough, I want him to KNOCK OVER HIS TEAMMATES to get those rebounds, whine whine whine..."

Some of you just have to whine about something, even if it's mostly just baseless and nonsensical. Seriously. It's completely assinine to knock a power forward for going after rebounds. It's like knocking a scorer for scoring too much, or a PG for assisting too much. I'd rather have a player who takes no chances securing the ball, than a player who passively tries to allow his teammates to get the rebound. WHO CARES who gets the freakin rebound as long as our TEAM gets it! Would you rather the other team get it? Would you rather the PG get the rebound for whatever reason? Who cares? And since he's a PF who can reliably step out and hit the 3 on offense, yep --- his offensive rebounds will obviously take a hit! Golly gee!

Re: Nice article on Troy Murphy @ RealGM

I've been arguing for Troy on the other thread at the risk of trashing the 1% respect I now get. No more arguments from me.

"He wanted to get to that money time. Time when the hardware was on the table. That's when Roger was going to show up. So all we needed to do was stay close"Darnell Hillman (Speaking of former teammate Roger Brown)

Re: Nice article on Troy Murphy @ RealGM

Troy is consistent and has definite qualities, however he also has a huge deficiency when it comes to defense. That's mostly why he doesn't get ranked as a borderline all-star as suggested. Can't see how you could miss such a hole as a writer.

Re: Nice article on Troy Murphy @ RealGM

BTW, let's see his stats for his Pacers duration and compare that to his pay. Still "underpaid". Whoops.

I think you need to look a lot deeper than this shallow argument. Hard to be much impact
if you are the 4th, 5th or 6th option on offense or if you are sitting on the bench.
Bottom line is given the minutes and opportunity he has excelled. His shooting percentages
are outstanding. You can't take that away no matter what the argument. Troy is not making
lay-ups.

Re: Nice article on Troy Murphy @ RealGM

Re: Nice article on Troy Murphy @ RealGM

In the interest of being kinder than my previous post, I'll say this: we haven't done any favors for Troy defensively. Imagine that we draft a Dale Davis type shotblocker big man who can move his feet. Then imagine that Granger defends small forward because Dun has to come off the bench -- or is on the IR -- next year. Danny is better off there than defending a wing, plus his shotblocking comes into play.

Much like Smits, Murph's defensive issues would become a whooooole lot more palatable.

Re: Nice article on Troy Murphy @ RealGM

For all we know Bird has told Troy to get every rebound he can get and Troy's doing it. Bird probably would like all the Pacers to have Troy's mindset.

I don't know if it was this last game or not but I remember seeing Jeff take a rebound away from Troy. As Gomer Pile used to say, Shame on him! Shame, shame, shame!

I would think LB would knock over his own mother to go get a ball. I've found the whole argument very silly myself.

It's silly, because that is how well he's been playing. Fighting teammates over a loose ball is the thing that he's been bashed for. Outside of defense, if that's all we have to worry about with him, then that is an EXTREMELY good thing.